Our Dear Alma Mater

The Oglethorpe alma mater has changed during the course of the university’s history. During Thornwell Jacobs’s time as president, the anthem was the longest in the university’s history with three stanzas, each with eight lines. The song was a tribute to Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe, and it compared the general’s ideals to those of the university and its students. During Philip Weltner’s presidency, the alma mater was two stanzas, and it described the beauty of the school and the feelings students have when they graduate and leave their beloved university. The Oglethorpe University alma mater was rewritten in 1987 by Dr. Linda Taylor, an Oglethorpe English professor, and is still in use today.